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SALLIE WALKER STOCKARD. 



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Valley. 



BY 

Sallie Walker Stockard. 

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CO 


major Charles manly Steelman, 

Eawyer, Statesman, Gentleman, 
Soldier, Scholar of the Confederacy, 
type of Southern manhood. 



INTRODUCTION. 


A certain critic has said: “ The Song of 
Solomon has as much place in the Bible as a 
pig has in the parlor of a palace. ” 

On the other hand, that pure and eminent 
servant of God, Dr. Win. S. Plumer, in lec¬ 
turing to a class in the Theological Seminary 
at Columbia, S. C., said: “ One hundred and 
fifty years ago one-third of the texts used by 
evangelical preachers were taken from the 
Song of Solomon.” 

Here is manifestly a wonderful difference 
of opinion. 

And it cannot wholly be accounted for by 
a difference in the moral state of the two 
classes of critics. It is evident that in form¬ 
ing the estimate, the second has taken into 
consideration some things which have been 



12 


wilfully or thoughtlessly omitted by the first. 
Among these are imperfect and even misrep- 
resentative translations; and, also, essential 
differences between Oriental and Occidental 
modes of thought, feeling and expression. 

Those whose breadth and depth of culture, 
whose consecrated and comprehensive schol¬ 
arship, have enabled them to grasp the whole 
situation, with almost one voice pronounce 
the poem one of exceeding literary beauty. 
It is safe to say that its right to a place in the 
sacred canon was never less questioned by 
true evangelical scholarship than it is to-day. 
Its praise is spoken freely by the most emi¬ 
nent critics in both of the two leading schools 
of Biblical interpretation. Higher criticism 
and conservative lower criticism differ in 
many other things but they agree in pro¬ 
nouncing the Song of Solomon a literary 
gem; elevated in conception, exquisite in its 


13 


simplicity, quick and varied in its move¬ 
ment, ever changing its lovely pictures from 
city to country, from palace to cottage, from 
the King’s courts to the peasants rural gar¬ 
dens and vineyards, giving us light and 
shadow, darkness and daybreak, mountain, 
hill and valley; the sun’s clearness, the 
moon’s fairness. I have been a life-long stu¬ 
dent of the Bible and I must confess that in 
my recent examination of the Song of Solo¬ 
mon I have been simply amazed to see what 
a number of pleasing and attractive objects, 
animate and inanimate, heavenly and earthly, 
this poem holds up before the mind for its 
admiring delight; fragrant ointment, the 
palace, the tent, the vineyard, the flock, the 
chariot, jewels of gold and of silver, the green 
sward, the cedar, the fir, the apple tree, the 
rose, the lily, the dove, the roe, the hind, 
spring-time flowers, the fig tree, singing birds, 


14 


vines, tender grapes, the mountain-slope, the 
mountain-top, the lion, the leopard, the frag¬ 
rant spice, the garden, the fountain, the or¬ 
chard in fruit, the mountain-stream, the 
night’s dew-drops, the marble pillar, the ar¬ 
my’s banners, the monarch’s purple, the 
palm-tree, the budding pomegranate, coals of 
fire and floods of water. The richness in ex¬ 
quisite metaphor will never he surpassed. 
Says the unsafe, but very scholarly, Canon 
Driver: 

“ The poetry of the Song is exquisite. The 
movement is graceful and light; the imagery 
is beautiful, and singularly picturesque; the 
author revels among the delights of the coun¬ 
try ; one scene after another is brought be¬ 
fore us—doves hiding in the clefts of the 
rocks, or resting beside the water-brooks, 
gazelles leaping over the mountains or feed¬ 
ing among the lilies, goats reclining on the 


15 


sloaping hills of Gilead; trees with their va¬ 
ried foliage, flowers with bright hues or 
richly scented perfume, ever supplying the 
poet with a fresh picture or comparison; we 
seem to walk with the Shepherd lover him¬ 
self, among vineyards or fig-trees in the balmy 
air of spring, or to see the fragrant, choicely 
furnished garden.” 

But the last part of this quotation brings 
up the difficult question as to the true literary 
form of this composition and as to its correct 
interpretation. 

In these merely introductory words it is 
not possible for me to enter upon any ex¬ 
tended discussion of this question. The theo¬ 
ries in detail are many. In general outline, 
they are three. 

1. That the Song was never intended to 
have any such connection of parts or such 
progressing narrative as would give it the 


16 


\ 


unity of development which belongs to re¬ 
lated fact or consistent fiction. The Song 
celebrates one general subject, but not in or¬ 
derly sequence or with close connections. 
The style is thus Oriental. 

2. That the Song is dramatic, with two 
principal characters, Solomon and the Shu- 
lamite maiden who has become his bride. In 
this view the Song is interpreted as Messianic 
and falls into unity with those Psalms and 
those passages of the New Testament which 
employ holy married love to set forth the 
sacred affection between God and His people, 
Christ and His Church. 

3. That the Song is dramatic or a Lyric 
Idyl, with three principal characters; Sol¬ 
omon in the days of his inferior glory 
or of degeneracy, a Shulamite maiden 
whom he has taken from her country 
home and is attempting to win to him- 


17 


self, and her Shepherd lover to whom she 
spontaneously gives a pure affection which 
money cannot buy, which water cannot ex¬ 
tinguish, whose awful purity over-awes the 
monarch and whose holy constancy has its 
triumphant blessedness in the final scene of 
sacred union and marriage. The Ethical 
value of tho Song is its withering condemna¬ 
tion of unworthy love, its setting forth of 
purity as its own sufficient panoply, and its 
exhibition of genuine love as a flame of 
Heaven illuminating and glorifying the mar¬ 
riage of one man and one woman. 

Which of these three views is correct, I 
for one cannot dogmatically assert. I in¬ 
cline to the first, feeling the force of what I 
quote from Dr. John C. Davis, Professor of 
Semitic Philology and Old Testament History 
in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. 
J., who, in his Bible Dictionary (1898), says : 


18 


“ The Song does not naturally conform to 
the rules of dramatic unity. A regular plot 
is not yielded by the poem itself. A consec¬ 
utive narrative can be made out only by sup¬ 
plying connecting links of which the poem 
itself knows nothing. Indeed the several 
parts have been made to tell very different 
continuous tales according as interpreters 
have supplied this connecting link.” 

Miss Stockard has adopted the third of 
these theories. I now offer a few simple ex¬ 
planatory statements as to her object in pub¬ 
lishing this booklet, followed by some words 
introducing herself. 

The literature of the Old Testament is to 
many minds of almost fascinating interest. 
Even before Miss Stockard had given any 
especial study to this Song, in her own pri¬ 
vate reading she had discovered its suscepti¬ 
bility of being cast into dramatic form. It 


19 


required but little examination for her to as¬ 
certain that this thought of hers was no 
“ new thing under the sun.” She therefore 
makes no claim to originality either as to the 
dramatic cast of this little book or as to all 
passages serving as links of connection be¬ 
tween the different parts, much less to trans¬ 
lation from the original Hebrew. She has 
simply taken the Song in what seemed to her 
the best available translation, omitted some 
things for reasons of prudence, supplied some 
things which seemed needed to work out her 
conception of the meaning of the poem, and 
put all in the attractive paper and binding 
now presented to the reader. Her motive, 
apart from any of personal advantage, has 
been to stimulate a love for this production 
and to extend a knowledge of its exquisite 
merit by putting it, in convenient and attrac¬ 
tive form, in the hands of many who may 


20 


not read it when bound up with the other 
books of the Bible. 

Miss Stockard is a native of Alamance 
county, North Carolina, and her academical 
education was received at Graham, in that 
county, her excellent instructor being Pro¬ 
fessor Jerome Stockard, now prominently 
connected with Peace Institute. She was 
graduated at Guilford College (where she es¬ 
pecially studied Greek, Latin and Mathe¬ 
matics), taking her degree of Bachelor of 
Arts in 1897. Subsequently, she entered the 
University of North Carolina and received 
the same degree from that old seat of learning 
in 1898. She received from the University the 
degree of Master of Arts in 1900. Through 
all this course of education she has sustained 
herself and thus demonstrated that it is not 
easy to debar from these advantages the reso¬ 
lute soul determined to attain them. 


21 


Miss Stockard is but upon the threshold 
of what her friends confidently anticipate 
as a successful career in literature. She has 
written interesting historical sketches of Ala¬ 
mance county and is now engaged in a simi¬ 
lar work of Guilford county. Much of what 
she has written has been published in the 
“ Morning Post,” of Raleigh, N. 0., and has 
been received with appreciative commenda¬ 
tion. As a woman, a North Carolina woman, 
a Southern woman, she will receive from all 
“God-speed” in the work to which she so 
perseveringly and industriously gives her life. 

E. Daniel. 

The Manse , 

Raleigh , N. C, March 13, /go/. 



PROLOGUE. 


The Bible is our great book of law, phil¬ 
osophy and life. It may be called the Expe¬ 
rience Book of Human Nature. For does it 
not fathom and prophesy the feeling of man¬ 
kind from its sublimest heights to its deep¬ 
est, tenderest love, from Moses on Mount 
Sinai to Mary by the Manger, from the law 
proclaimed in thunder to the still small voice 
in a mother’s heart when her soul sang the 
beautiful hymn of the Annunciation. 

He hath regarded the low estate 
Of His hand maiden ; 

For, behold, from henceforth all generations 
Shall call me blessed. 

For He that is mighty 
Hath done to me great things ; 

And holy is His name. 

His mercy is on them that fear Him 

From generation to generation. 



24 


He hath showed strength with His arm ; 

He hath scattered the proud 

In the imagination of their hearts. 

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 

And exalted them of low degree. 

He hath filled the hungry 
With good things ; 

The rich He hath sent 
Empty away. 

He hath holpen His servant Israel, 

In remembrance of His mercy. 

So the Bible is the great world book first 
of all in its delineation and portrayal of hu¬ 
man nature and of life with its perplexing 
problems of the mysterious human heart. 

All other things seem to be going through 
a process of evolution; change touches all, 
even the trees of the forest; things which are 
so to-day will be something else to-morrow. 
With the human heart it is not so. Human 
nature is the same. The linking ages trans¬ 
mit human influence, human feeling which 
is deeper than all thought. Doubtless had 
the key note of the Bible been any other than 


25 


human experience it would have long ago 
lost its charm. It would have had for us no 
longer the fascination and beauty which it has. 
It is life’s art gallery splendid in its fine array 
of pictures of the one great subject, Life. It 
is like music, again and again recurring the 
same sweet strain, playing upon the harp of 
a thousand strings—from “ In the Beginning 
God,” to the Beloved’s experience upon lonely 
Patmos. 

The Bible may be regarded as a history of 
God’s dealings with men, the experience of 
mankind with the Creator. But who shall 
say that the dealing of men with each other 
is a different thing. One embraces all. 

“ Who gives himself with his gift 
Feeds three, 

Himself, his hungrying neighbor, 

And Me.” 

The Bible portrayal of the finer emotions 
of man is quite as true to life as the delinea¬ 
tion of the mighty men of Israel in law and 
war and trade. For life is many sided and 


26 


the experience of one person is very full and 
varied, for the heart and soul are so complex 
that a man can scarcely find and know him¬ 
self without a wide experience. 

The Book of Ruth is the love story of a 
widow who won the heart of a King and be¬ 
came the mother of a mighty line of the tribe 
of Juda, linking the race of Moab with that 
of Israel and the Redeemer. The Book of 
Esther gives the experience of a true woman 
who dared maintain her womanliness. 

Solomon wrote three important books of 
the Bible: Proverbs he wrote for the instruc¬ 
tion of the youth; Ecclesiastes shows the folly 
of age, the vanity of vanities of a wasted life; 
the Song of Songs was written for young peo¬ 
ple, the story of the unquenchableness of 
purest human love. 

In the Song of Songs the wisest man sang 
of the one true love among a polygamous peo¬ 
ple. This is the love poem of the Bible, sac¬ 
red and excellent enough to occupy a place, its 
place in the Sacred Scriptures. This is the 


27 


love song of man’s innocent infancy, rich 
with the fragrance of purest affection, be¬ 
gemmed with rarest appreciation of nature, 
luxurient in warm-hearted and tender desire. 

So rare and fine is the sentiment that the 
church has claimed it as typical of the union 
between the Lamb and His Bride. But the 
Song of Songs is not too holy to be the Bible’s 
representative of lawful human love, so pow¬ 
erful and far-reaching in its effects on the 
race of men and upon the life of civilization 
and of art. 

In walking through the autumn fields one 
finds many flowers rich in hue and rarest 
color of purple, blue or yellow. They wave 
their heads in the breeze as if in defiance of 
all, so free and pure and fair. Pluck one, 
look at it carefully, pull it apart. You will 
find it to be a colony of flowers, a cluster on 
the pedestal of one stout stem, the many in 
one. How wonderful is nature ! This little 
republic of the gay, fair flowers of tiie field is 
like the Songs of Solomon, each is composite. 


28 


The Song, in one sense, is a cluster of love 
songs that used to be sung in Israel at wed¬ 
dings—a hymn book for marriages. It is 
supposed that the Jews of old regarded the 
bride and groom as king and queen for the 
first seven days after marriage; and the Song 
of Songs was the Epithalamium. 

Another view of this Book of the Bible is 
that it is the song of the one wife, the love of 
Solomon; and that this is his tribute to his true 
and lawful wife, his equal in truth—if not in 
rank—in feminine, womanly graces. Solo¬ 
mon was handsome, strong physically as well 
as mentally; so gentle and considerate as men 
of wisdom naturally are; “ My sister,” is his 
gallant manner of addressing her in respect 
for her as his equal, for her, his modest little 
country sweetheart, of humble rank, a wood 
violet. 

But Solomon’s life would not admit of this 
rendition. He was a polygamous king—only 
the pure in heart shall see God, only the pure 
in heart can know love, and the central 



29 

thought of the Song of Songs, the heart, the 
logic of the story which gives it life and unity 
is the sacredness and spontaneity of love. 
This is the soul of the poem making it an or¬ 
ganic whole: 

“ Set me as a seal upon thine heart, 

As a seal upon thine arm : 

For love is strong as death, 
jealousy cruel as the grave ; 

The coals thereof are coals of fire, 

With a most vehement flame. 


“ Many waters cannot quench love, 

Neither can the floods drown it; 

If a man would give all 

The substance of his house for love, 

It would utterly be condemned.” 

The Song of Songs may he regarded as an 
idyl, beautiful only for situation simply the 
land of the lotus eaters where it is always af¬ 
ternoon : 


“ There is sweet music here 
That softer falls 

Than petals from blown roses on the grass, 
Sweet music here that gentler lies 
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.” 



30 


It has many features of the ballad, for in¬ 
stance, it begins in the middle of the story, 
the maiden has already been stolen away from 
the garden of nuts. 

But it is much more beautiful to take it as 
a drama in which there is some temptation, 
some deep soul struggle on the part of the 
young girl. She has been stolen away from 
the garden of nuts by the king’s horsemen 
and chariots. The pure heart of Lily of the 
Valleys withstood the temptations of luxurious 
royalty. The strongest temptation of all 
came perhaps from the Court Ladies. Wo¬ 
man knows how to tempt woman. At one 
time vacillating and receding, at another ur¬ 
gent and unanswerable. Then, too, there 
conies to all of us a time to choose between 
God and Mammon, a time to choose between 
things as reality, the world of ease and lux¬ 
ury, and the way of highest Duty. Suppose 
the Shulamite had been false to her womanly 
instinct, what tribute to pure love would the 
wisest man have given her ? It is possible 


31 


that without her Solomon could not have 
written this poem whose theme is: 

Dove is strong as Death 
Jealousy cruel as the grave 
****** 

If a man would give all 

The substance of his house for Dove, 

It would utterly be denied him. 

Who shall define the Song of Solomon? 
No more can it be described than sweet vio¬ 
lets filled with dewy tears, or the rainbow 
ribbon sometime in summer seen waving 
in the sky showing new and different beauty 
to every wandering vision. 

The sonnets of this Song of Songs are sung 
in turn by the lover and his beautiful chosen 
bride. Sometimes his is a serenade sung be¬ 
neath her window when all the golden sum¬ 
mer air is laden, like honey bees, with sweet 
perfumes of spices and flowers. The winds 
are odorous with the breath of myrrh and 
cedars of Lebanon. The atmosphere is buoy¬ 
ant with all sweets of odors and sounds. 


32 


Lover: 

“ Awake, O North Wind ; 

And come, thou South ; 

Blow upon my garden, 

That the spices may flow out.” 

Her response: 

“ Let my Love come into his garden, 

And let him eat his pleasant fruits.” 

Lover: 

“ Behold, thou art fair, my Love ; 

Behold, thou art fair ; 

Thou hast doves’ eyes.” 

Maiden: 

“ Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved, 

Yea, pleasant; 

Also our bed is green. 

The beams of our house are cedars, 

And our rafters are of fir.” 

The maiden, in childlike delight, grateful 
that her beauty pleases the youthful shepherd 
lad, in free devotion and self-depreciation, 
sings: 

“ I am the rose of Sharon, 

The lily of the valleys.” 


33 


These were country flowers, like wood vio¬ 
lets growing anywhere they could find a little 
corner to live in; they were by no means the 
gorgeous hot house plants. The young Lover 
replies: 

“ As the lily among thorns, 

So is my Love among the daughters.” 

Maiden: 

“ As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, 
So is my Beloved among the sons. 

I sat down under his shadow with great delight, 
And his fruit was sweet to my taste. 

He brought me to the banqueting house, 

And his banner over me was Love.” 

This is a lyric play in which the scenes 
change sometime in the middle of a chapter. 
Her lover is a young shepherd lad among 
many others, tending his flock. Solomon 
knew that the rich and mighty could never 
be sure of their friends. 


34 

She sings: 

“ The voice of my Beloved! 

Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, 
Skipping upon the hills. 

My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart; 
Behold, he standeth behind our wall, 

He looketh forth at the windows, 

Showing himself through the lattice. 

My Beloved speaks and sings to me— 

(HIS SONG OF SPRING.) 

‘ Rise, my I^ove, my fair one, and come away, 
For lo, the winter is past, 

The rain is over and gone ; 

The flowers appear on the earth ; 

The time of the singing of birds is come, 

The voice of the turtle is heard in our land ; 
The fig putteth forth her green figs, 

The vines with the tender grapes give a good 
smell.’ ” 

Here his song interrupts her singing from 
the window through the lattice. Like mock¬ 
ing birds they are responding in love music, 
for this is spring when fancy lightly turns to 
thoughts of love. 



35 


They were married, for pledges were ful¬ 
filled—“ My beloved is mine, and I am his: 
he feedeth among the lilies.” It was wedded 
love which dared to seek him in the crowded 
city. 

The language of feeling is not the language 
of the reason. The two are different. Rea¬ 
son is logical moving forward a step at a time, 
calculating, fearing to express too much or 
too little. Feeling is sure that words can not 
convey too much. Feeling speaks in hyper¬ 
bole and metaphor because it has but few 
words of its own; hence poetry finds its 
whole dominion in the regions of feeling. 
Israel was a people of deep feeling. 

The meditations of the religious Hebrew 
were all conceived in greatest stress of pain 
and pleasure. Their serfdom in Egypt, their 
wanderings in the wilderness, the smitten 
rock, the River Jordan, the fire by night, the 
cloud by day, the wonderful men Abraham 
and Moses had all contributed in making the 
Hebrew mind reflective and the Hebrew liter- 


36 


ature richest of all in lyrics. Soul singing 
was their nature, either from looking into the 
heavens by night—those golden nights of the 
East when the sky pulsates with joy of the 
stars—or the wonderful doings of their lead¬ 
ers in the daytime. The life of the Hebrews 
made their thought rich, abstract reason in 
concrete form, expressing itself sometimes in 
songs like life manifesting itself in sunny 
flowers. 

Poetry is the glory of language, as music 
is the glory of mathematics; the perfection of 
the two in one is oratory. No wonder that 
poetry and music often blend and flow into 
each other, since both are emanations from 
the one divine efflatus. The rhythm and 
the measure of the one is complementary to 
the flow of thought with its natural embel- 
ishments of rich imagery in the other. The 
spirit of each is like the breath of life, elusive. 
Who shall say wherein is the beauty of the 
Song of Songs, the sweet selections of Israel's 
wisest ruler. 


37 


It is like a bundle of old love letters written 
all in rhyme, as the Sonnets of the Portuguese. 

All great things of earth are gifts to the 
children of men. The Song of Songs is a gift 
to us. Each of us may have his own interpre¬ 
tation. It gives itself to all perhaps as a new 
revelation. 

Amor omnia vincit. 





Dramatis Persons. 

King Solomon . Royal Suitor. 

The Shepherd Lover . The Beloved. 

Citizens . Subjects of the King. 

Shepherds . Friends oj the Beloved. 

Liey OF THE Vaixeys . The Bride. 

Chorus of Court Ladies, Daughters of Jerusalem. 







tbe Eily of tbe Ualleys 


Act T. 

Scene I. Within the Women's Royal Apart¬ 
ment. Lily of the Valleys longing for the ca¬ 
resses of her absent shepherd-lover , complain¬ 
ing that she is detained in the royal palace 
aginst her will, and inquiring eagerly where 
he may be found. 

LILY OF THE VALLEYS: 

D REMEMBER the kisses, 

The dear caresses of my Shepherd Lover; 
For love is better than wine. 

CHORUS OF COURT LADIES: 

Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; 

Thy name is like perfume poured forth; 
Therefore do the virgins praise thee, 
Therefore do the maidens love thee. 
Forget thy country Lover 
Accept a royal marriage. 



42 


LILY: 

Draw me: save me; 
Sick am I for home. 


CHORUS: 

We will run after thee. 


LILY: 

The king hath brought me 
Into his chambers. 

CHORUS: 

We will be glad 
And rejoice in thee: 

We will make mention of thee: 

We will return the favors of thy love 
More than of wine 
Rightly do we love thee. 

LILY: 

I am comely, but dark like the early dawn, 
Ye Daughters of Jerusalem, 

Like the tents of Arabian Kedar 
Woven from the shaggy goat: 


43 


Like the curtains of Solomon, 

Or the pomegranate, rough-rind, 

But pure within and chaste and fine. 

Judge me not in harshness, 

Because I am swarthy, 

Because the sun hath scorched me. 
Approach me not in anger 
No longer do I dwell 
In the tent of my father. 

My mother’s sons were incensed against me, 
They wrought hardships upon me; 

They made me keeper of the vineyards; 

But mine own vineyard have I not kept. 
My dower of beauty is sunburnt, 

None cherished my comeliness. 

Mine own vineyard have I not kept. 

0 tell me, Shepherd-Lover, 

0 thou whom my soul loveth, 

Where thou feedest thy flock, 

Where thou makest it to rest at noon ? 


44 


For why should I be as one 
That wandereth and an outcast 
Beside the flocks of thy companions, 
Beside the still waters. 

CHORUS: 

If thou know not, 

(Forsooth thou knowest not!) 

0 thou fairest among women, 

Go thy way forth 
By the footsteps of the flock; 

And feed kids in obscurity 
Beside thy wretched shepherd’s tent. 



45 


Scene II. Enter Solomon seeking to win her af¬ 
fections. She parries the King's compliments 
with reminiscences of her absent lover; she ap¬ 
plies his language to the Shepherd-lover. She 
reminds the ladies of the Court that love is an 
affection which arises spontaneously and eti- 
treats them not to excite it artificially in Solo¬ 
mon’s favor. 

SOLOMON: 

Honey-sweet, 

I have compared thee, 0 my friend, 

To the steeds of Pharaoh’s chariots. 

Thy temples are bound with plaits of hair. 
Thy neck with comeliness. 

We will make thee chains of gold 
f With jewelled gems of silver. 

LILY : 

While the king was away 
Banqueting with his guest; 

My heart was longing for another: 

Sweet memories filled me with pure love. 


46 


My spikenard sent forth its fragrance, 

My heart sent forth its glow of affection 
To my Beloved, my shepherd upon the 
mountains. 

See the slender plants pointing to his 
bower 

With fingers of young leaves 
To his home upon the hills. 

My Beloved is unto me 
As a bundle of myrrh, 

Like a locket of perfume 
Lying upon my breast. 

My Beloved is unto me 
A sweet boquet of henna-flowers, 

Wild blooming in the vineyards 
Of the vales of Engedi. 

SOLOMON: 

Behold, thou art fair, my love; 

Behold thou art very fair; 

Thine eyes are as doves eyes, 

So pure, so blue and clear. 


47 


Thy face like the moon 

Is graced with clouds of darkest hair. 

LILY : 

Behold, my Beloved is fair, 

My shepherd youth, yea, pleasant; 

Our home is in the open field; 

Our couch the fresh green grass; 

The beams of our house are cedars 
Our rafters are firs. * 

I am a rose of Sharon, 

A humble autumn crocus, 

A modest violet of the woods, 

The Lily-of-the-Valleys. 

SOLOMON: 

As a Lily among thorns 

So is my love among the daughters. 

LILY: 

As the apple tree among the trees of the 
wood 

So is my Shepherd-Lover among the sons. 


48 


With great delight I sat down 
Under his pleasant shade, 

And his fruit was sweet to my taste. 

He brought me to his vintage 
Cooled in the deep-delved earth : 

His banner over me was Love. 

Heal me with grapes, 

Bless me with apples 
For I am sick of love. 

0 may his left hand 
Be under my head, 

May his strong right hand 
Caress and embrace me. 

I adjure you, 0 ye Daughters of Jerusalem 
By the swift gazelles, 

And by the hinds of the field, 

That ye stir not up, nor awaken Love 
U ntil Love itself desire, 

And grow spontaneously. 




fltl TT. 

Scene I. A scene of the lovers , Liey at the win¬ 
dow , Shepherd-eover below in the distance. 
Like mocking birds at nesting time they are 
singing responsively. 

LILY: 

T HE voice of my Beloved! 

Behold, he cometh 
Leaping upon the mountains, 

Skipping upon the hills. 

My Beloved is like a chamois 
Or a young hart, fleet of foot. 

Behold, he standeth behind our wall, 

He looketh in at the windows, 

He glanceth through the lattice. 

Hark, he speaks, he sings to me. 

SERENADE: 

The spring-time has come, the May is here, 
On hill and in vale 
All is full of delight. 

How sweet is the spring-time, 



50 


How lovely and bright, 

Its kingdom is over us all. 

Rise up, my love, my fair Bride, 

And let us flee away. 

For, lo, the winter is past, 

The winter of darkness and cold, 

The rain is over and gone; 

The flowers appear on the earth; 

The time of the singing of birds is come, 
The voice of the turtle is heard in our 
land. 

The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs, 

And the vines are blossoming, 

The teeming earth is breathing forth 
Incense of spring and blooming fra¬ 
grance. 

REFRAIN: 

0 come, my love, 

Arise, arise. 

0 come, my Bride, and flee away. 

For the spring time has come, the May is here, 


51 


On hill and in valley all is full of delight. 
How sweet is the spring time, 

How lovely and bright 
Its kingdom is over us all. 

LILY: 

0 my Beloved, thou art like the faithful 
dove, 

That dwelleth in the clefts of the rock 
In the covert of the steep place, 

In the secret corners of the stairs. 

Let me see thy countenance, 

Let me hear thy voice: 

For sweet is thy voice, 

And thy countenance is comely. 

(A WARNING.) 

My mother’s sons were incensed against me, 
They made me their vine dresser, 

Rudely they were wont to call, 

Their harsh voices saying, 


52 


“ Catch us the foxes, 

The little foxes 
That spoil the vines, 

For our vines are in blossom.” 

(PROMISES RENEWED.) 

My Beloved is mine 
And I am his : 

My Shepherd feeds his flock 
Among the lilies of the field: 
Solomon in his glory 
Is not arrayed as these. 

Until the dawning breaks 

And the darkling shadows fade 
Turn, my Beloved, 

And he thou like a chamois 
Or a young hart 

Upon the mountains that divide us. 


53 


Scene II. The first dream. She had seemed to 
go in search of her lover. The dream reflects 
the waking feelings and desires. In the econ¬ 
omy of the poem it serves to explain to the 
chorus the state of the heroine's jeelings; her 
adjuration follows appropriately ; let them not 
seek to stir up an unwilling love. 

LILY: 

By night on my bed 

I sought him whom my soul loveth: 

I sought him, but I found him not. 

I said, I will rise now 
And go about the city. 

In the streets and in the broadways, 

I will seek him whom my soul loveth, 

I sought him, but I found him not. 

The watchmen that go about the city, 
The watchmen found me: 

To them I said, “ Saw ye him 
Whom my soul loveth ? ” 

It was but a little 

That I had passed from them, 


54 


When I found him whom my soul loveth: 

I held him and would not let him go, 
Until I had brought him 
Into my mother's house, 

And into the home of her 
Who conceived me. 

I adjure you, 0 ye Daughters of Jerusalem 
By the gazelles and by the hinds of the 
field, 

That ye stir not up 
Nor awaken Love 
Till Love itself desire, 

And come spontaneously. 



Act TIT. 

TEMPTATION. 

Scene I. Citizens ofJerusalem assembled in front 
of one of the gates. In the distance the royal 
equipage is approaching. The intention of the 
spectacle is to dazzle the country maiden with 
a sense of the honor awaiting her if she will 
consent to become the King's bride. In the 
palaquin is Soeomon himself, wearing the 
crown of State which his mother gave him on 
his wedding day. 

First Citizen : 

Who is this that cometh up out of the wil¬ 
derness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with 
myrrh and frankincense, and with all the 
powders of the merchant ? 

Second Citizen : 

Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; three 
score mighty men are about it of the mighty 
men of Israel. They all handle the sword 
and are expert in war: every man hath his 



56 


sword upon his thigh, because of his fear in 
the night. 

Third Citizen : 

King Solomon made himself a chariot of 
the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars 
thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, 
the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof 
being paved with affection for the Daughters 
of Jerusalem. Go forth, 0 ye Daughters of 
Zion, and behold King Solomon with the 
crown wherewith his mother crowned him in 
the day of his espousals, and in the day of 
the gladness of his heart. 



57 


Scene II. A King's Wooing . 
SOLOMON: 

Behold, thou art fair, my love, 

Behold, thou art very fair; 

Thine eyes are as dove’s eyes 
Behind thy veil. 

Thy hair in glossy wavelets 
Is like a flock of goats 
That sleep along the slopes of Gilead. 

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes 
That are newly shorn, 

Which are come up white from the washing; 

Whereof every one hath twins, 

And none is bereaved among them. 

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet 
And thy mouth is comely: 

Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate 
Beneath thy beautiful hair. 

Thy face is like a lily 
Bathed in dewy tears. 


58 


Thy neck is like the tower of David 
Builded with turrets embossed, 

Thy golden necklace of shield-shaped gems 
Like a thousand bucklers pendant, 
David’s shields of mighty men. 

Thy bosom white as the hawthorn buds 
Thy throat like twin gazelles 
With rose-leaves lips of red 
Feeding among lilies. 

When the day breezes 

And the darkling shadows fade, 

I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, 
To the hill of frankincense. 

Thou art beautiful, my love, 

There is no blemish in thee. 


No response. 



59 


Scene III. A True Love Wooing , 
SHEPHERD LOVER. 

Come with me to Lebanon, 

With me to Lebanon : 

Look from the head of Amana, 

From the top of Senir and Hermon, 
Come from that Lion’s-Den, 

From that Panther-Mountain. 

Thou hast ravaged my heart, 

My equal, my Bride. 

Thou hast ravaged my heart 
With one of thine eyes, 

With one chain of thy neck. 

All thy soul is sparkling 
In thy azure-deep eyes, 

Graceful smiles are playing around 
The luster of thy lips. 

How sweet is thy love, 

My sister, my Bride, 

How much better is thy love than wine, 
And the fragrance of thy presence 
Beyond all sweet delights. 


60 


Sweetness beyond all honey drops 
Thy lips let fall, my Bride: 

Better than honey and milk is thy speech, 
Thy voice is low and sweet. 

The scent of thy garments 
Is the sweet scent of cedars. 

A garden shut up 

Is my sister, my Bride, 

A woman imprisoned, a spring closely 
locked, 

A fountain sealed. 

Thy virtues are plants of Paradise, 

An orchard of pomegranates, 

With delicious fruits; 

Spikenard and saffron, 

Calamus and cinnamon. 

With all the trees of frankincense. 

Myrrh and aloes, 

Balsam and henna 
With all the chief spices : 


61 


Thou fountain of gardens, 

Thou source of living waters, 

Thou source of springs, of springs of 
Lebanon. 

Awake, 0 North Wind, awake! 

But sleep, thou drowsy South; 

Blow softly on my garden 
Waft me Love’s fragrances. 

0 winds, scented with sandals 
Breathing love from thy regions 
Be kind for a moment 

Waft me Love’s fragrances. 

Responsive. 

LILY: 

0 my Beloved may come into his garden, 
And eat his pleasant fruits. 

SHEPHERD: 

I will come into my garden 
My sister, my Bride, 


62 


I will gather my myrrh with my spice, 

I will eat my honey comb with my honey, 
I will drink my wine with my milk. 

CHORUS OF COURT LADIES: 

Eat, 0 friends, 

Drink, yes drink abundantly of love. 



63 


Scene IV. Dream of love forsaken. Psychic phe¬ 
nomenon; dream reflects the waking emotions. 
The Bride tells her second dream to the Chorus 
of Court Ladies. Temptation; royal suitor 
still unfortunate. 

LILY : 

I was asleep, but my heart waked: 

It is the voice of my Beloved 
That knocketh saying, 

“ Open to me, 

My sister, my love, 

My dove, my undefiled; 

For my head is filled with dew 
My locks with drops of the night.” 

I have put off my robe; 

How shall I put it on ? 

I have washed my feet; 

How shall I defile them ? 

My Beloved put his hand 

To open the door by the lock; 

My heart within me throbbed for him, 

I rose up to open to my Beloved; 


64 


My hands I dipped in myrrh, 

Perfumed them with dewy fragrance, 
My fingers dropped self-flowing myrrh 
Upon the handles of the bolt. 

I opened to my Beloved 

But my Beloved was turned away, was 
gone; 

My heart sprung forth to meet his call, 

My soul had failed me when he spake. 

I sought him, but I could not find him; 

I called him but he gave no answer. 

The watchmen that go about the city 
Found me; 

They smote me, they abused me; 

The keepers of the wall 
Took away my veil. 

I adjure you, 0 ye Daughters of Jerusalem, 
If ye find my Beloved, 

What will ye tell him ? 

—That sick of love am I. 


Act TU 


Scene I. Ladies of the Court and Lily of the 
Valleys. The Ladies in surprise at her per¬ 
sistent rejection of the King's advances , and 
her devotion to one absent. Her enraptured 
description of her lover. 

COURT LADIES: 

What is thy Beloved 
More than another Beloved, 

0 thou fairest among women ? 

What is thy Beloved 
More than another Beloved 
That thou dost so adjure us ? 

LILY : 

My Beloved is white and rudy, 

Brightest and best of ten thousand. 

His head is as the finest gold, 

Jewels from Ophir cannot equal it, 
Excellent in perception, 

Strong as the mightiest, 

The equal of any, 

The best of all. 


66 


His hyacinthian hair waves down 

In pendant curls, bushy and black as a 
raven. 

His eyes are like doves 

Darting on the surface of foaming cas¬ 
cades ; 

Like deep blue doves flitting on a shivering 
lake, 

Sporting on the bosom of a white pool, 
Or sitting by its placid streams. 

His cheeks like cherries kissed with dew, 
His temples like beds of spices, banks of 
sweets, 

His lips like lilies dropping myrrh; 

Beautiful is his speech, 

His voice is a clarion, 

Whose pleasant sounding fills the air ; 
His gentleness hath made me happy. 

His hands are rings of gold, 

His slender fingers better than emerald, 
His body is pure as bright ivory 


67 


Over which the lordly sapphires play, 

His strength like columns of marble, 

Set upon sockets of finest gold. 

His stature is like Lebanon, 

Stately as the cedars, 

Majestic as great pines. 

His address is sweetness, 

His speech is gentleness, 

He is loveliness. 

This is my Beloved, 

This is my best friend, 

0 Daughters of Jerusalem. 

LADIES: 

Whither is thy Beloved gone, 

0 most elegant of women ? 

Whither hath thy Beloved turned him, 
That we may bring him to rejoin thee ? 


68 


LILY: 

My Beloved is gone down to his garden, 
To his beds of fragrant plants, 

To feed in gardens, to gather lilies. 

I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine, 
In pastures green his milk white flock 
Are feeding among lilies. 



69 


SECOND ROYAL WOOING* 

Scene II. The King enters and renews his en¬ 
deavor to win her affection by praise of her 
beauty, and the description of the honor await¬ 
ing her. His memory passes back to the occa¬ 
sion of their first meeting in the garden of 
nuts ; when Lily was stolen a captive. 

SOLOMON: 

Thou art beautiful, 0 my friend, as Tirzah, 
Comely as Jerusalem, 

Dazzling as a flaming-bannered host. 

Turn away thine eyes from me, 

Glance from off my station, 

Thy eyes have overcome me. 

Thy hair is as a flock of goats 

Sleeping along the slopes of smiling 
Gilead. 

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep 
Coming up clean from the washing; 

Whereof every one hath twins 

And none is bereaved among them. 

Like a piece of pomegranate 

Is thy beautiful brow behind thy veil. 


70 


My dove, my undefiled is but one, 

She is the very one alone, 

To me she is my perfect one, 

The spotless one is she to her mother, 
The faultless favorite of her parent. 

The damsels saw her, 

The queens admired her, 

And all the women extolled her, 

Saying, “ Who is this, advancing 
In brightness like the daybreak, 

Beautiful as the dawning, 

Clearly radiant as the sunshine 
Dazzling as a shooting star, 

As streaming flames in the heavens. 

Who is she that looketh 
Rosy as the morning, 

Fair as the moon, 

Clear as the sun, 

Terrible as an army with banners. 

LILY: 

I went down into the garden of nuts, 

To inspect the fruits by the brook side, 


71 


To see the green plants of the valley, 
Whether the grapes were setting, 
Whether the pomegranates were in flower; 

Suddenly before I was aware, 

My soul set still, 

Fear chilled my heart, 

I was among the chariots of a host, 

Among chariots and horsemen of the 
King: 

“ Turn back, turn back, 0 Shulammite; 
Turn back, turn back, that we may look 
upon thee.” 

“ What would you see in the Shulammite ? ” 
“ The dance of Mahanaim.” 

Scene III. Solomon making a final endeavor to 
gain the Shulammite's heart by praising her 
charms in more effusive language than before. 

SOLOMON: 

How beautiful are thy steps, 

How graceful thy movements 


72 


0 daughter worthy of a prince. 

The hem of thy mantle like jewels, 

The work of the hands of a cunning work¬ 
man. 

Thy girdle-clasp is a golden zone, 
Charming more than mingled wine, 

Thy bodice is a sheaf of wheat 
Bound about with dewy lilies. 

Thy throat is like twin antelopes 
Feeding among lilies. 

Thy neck is like an ivory tower, 

Thy eyes are dark and clear, 

Deep and peaceful like the fish-pools of 
Heshbon, 

Bright eyes playing like water-birds 
With blue plumage sporting near. 

A full blown lily on a lake, 

Whitened o’er with curling foam. 

0 let affliction cease, 

Let ecstacy drown 

The remembrance of sorrow. 


73 


Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon, 
That looketh toward Damascus: 

Thy head above like Carmel shows, 

The hair of thy head like purple glows, 

The King is enchained in its ringlets 
My Love; 

All hearts are entangled by its tresses 
My Love. 

Thy head with ringlets sunning o’er, 

The hair of thy head so glossy and rich, 

A King is held captive in its strands, 
Little one. 

A King within its locks enchained. 

Like thee I saw of late 

A young palm-tree growing up 

Around its boughs the graceful vine 
In all its grapes and foliage shine, 

Fragrant and lusterous. 

Thy voice is low and sweet, 

Thy tone as clear and pure as a bell. 

Thy address is like the exquisite wine, 


74 


Going as a love favor to friends 
To consumate pledges of love. 

My heart would hear it and beat 
Were it for ages and ages dead. 

The lips of the old would hear it and speak 
In terms of exotic affection. 

0 my darling, naturally so tender-hearted, 
Quit thy causeless indignation. 

At this moment the flame of desire con¬ 
sumes my heart, 

0 grant me a draught of honey from 
The lotus of thy lips. 

Or if thou beest inexorable, 

Grant me death from the arrows of thy 
eyes. 

Make thy arms my chains; 

Punish me according to thy pleasure. 

Thou art my life, my adornment; 

Thou art a pearl in the ocean of my im¬ 
mortal birth: 


75 


0 be favorable now, 

And my heart shall be eternally grateful. 

Thy silence afflicts me : 

0 speak with the voice of music, 

Let thy kind accents allay my ardour, 
Whisper soft and sweet. 

Abandon thy wrath: 

But abandon not a lover, 

Who surpasses in beauty the Sons of men, 
And who kneels before thee, 

0 thou most beautiful of women. 

Thy lips are a lovely flower, 

The luster of the morning beams upon 
thy cheek, 

Thy eyes outshine the lotus. 

The Jessamine blossom yields to thee, 
Thou Lily of the Valleys. 

So the flowery-shafted passion 
Borrows from thee tHe points of its darts, 
And subdues all things. 


76 


Surely thou art come from heaven, 
0 slender, graceful maiden, 
Attended by coveys of angels; 

All their beauties blend in thee. 




77 


Scene IV. Lily heedless of the King's admira¬ 
tion, declaring her unswerving devotion to her 
shepherd-lover , and her longing to be with him 
again in the open fields. The refrain is her 
final repulse of the King. 

LILY: 

I am my Beloved’s, 

His desires are towards me; 

My dependence is upon him. 

Come, my Beloved, 

Take me to our open fields, 

My heart is sick for home. 

Let us go forth into the open field; 

Let us lodge by the way in villages. 

Let us go up early in the vineyards, 
Whether the vines be blooming 
Whether the smaller grape protrude, 
Whether the pomegranates be in flower : 
And the mandrakes diffuse fragrance. 

There will I give thee, 0 Beloved, 

There will I give thee perfect love, 

Then will we consumate pledges of love. 

L. of •*». 


78 


Over our doors are delicious fruits, 

The new and old ones too, my Love 
Have I laid up for thee. 

0 wert than my brother, 

The Son of my mother, 

Then should I find thee in the street 
I would kiss thee, 

Yes, and no one would condemn me: 

I would embrace thee and bring thee 
To the home of my mother ! 

And none would despise me. 

I would give my Beloved sweet wine, 
Wine I have made from wild flowers 
Flavored with the fragrant pomegranate, 
And cooled in the deep delved earth. 

The pines uphold our rafters 
The welkin is our roof-tree. 

0 may his left hand be under my head 
And his right hand embrace me. 


79 


I charge you, 

0 ye Daughters of Jerusalem, 
By the startling antelopes, 

By the timid fawns, 

That ye stir not up 
Nor awaken Love 
Till Love itself desire, 

And come spontaneously. 



flCt U. 

VICTORY. 

Shepherds. The Beloved and his Bride. The 
open fields . Morning. 

SHEPHERDS: 

Who is this that cometh up from the wil¬ 
derness leaning upon the arm of her Beloved ? 

THE BELOVED: 

Under this apple tree 
I awakened thee, 

Under this apple tree 
I courted thee, 

Overcame thy bashfulness. 

Here thy mother betrothed thee to me, 
Gave thee to my keeping, 

Here thy parent solemnly gave thee to me. 

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, 

As a seal upon thine arm: 

For Love is strong as Death 
Jealously cruel as the Grave: 


81 


The flames thereof are flames of fire, 

A lightening flash 
From the Eternal. 

Many waters cannot quench Love, 
Neither can flood drown it; 

If a man should give all 

The substance of his house for Love 
It would utterly he condemned. 

LILY: 

0 sweet the balmy days of spring, 

The blushing roses that they bring, 
But sweeter far is Love. 

SHEPHERDS: 

Ruddier than the cherry, 

Sweeter than the berry, 

0 Bride more bright 
Than moonshine night, 

0 maiden blithe and merry, 

Listening in the orchards 
The companions await thy voice, 

Let us hear thy lovely notes 
Sing us a merry measure. 


82 


0 thou dove nestling in the gardens 
We await thy mellow voice, 
Nightengales have sung to thee, 
Chant us thy happy measure. 

CHORUS: 

Singing in the distance: 

The clouds were reft away 
That were heavy on the May, 

The flowers bloometh fair, 

The meadow groweth green. 

Blest in joy and sorrow, 

Let only Love remain. 

They embrace, no more to part, 
While we sing from every heart 
A blessing on the Bridal! 

A blessing on the Queen! 

Wear me as a signet on thy heart, 

As a signet on thine arm, 

For strong as Death is Love, 

Its passion relentless as the Grave : 
Its shaft of fire, a lightning flash 
A very flame from Jhvh. 


83 


Mighty waters cannot quench it, 

The floods cannot overwhelm, 

Should a King give all his wealth, 

In Love it would be utterly condemned. 

Should a King give all 

The substance of his house for Love 
It would utterly be denied him 
And despised as despisable. 

THE BELOVED: 

Arise, arise, my friend, 

My fair Bride, my beautiful one, 

Arise, arise and come away. 

LILY: 

Ely to me, my Beloved, 

Fly to me swiftly, Beloved. 

Until the morning breathe, 

And the glimmering shadows fade, 

Be like the roe or young hart 
Upon the mountains of spices. 


I adjure you 

0 ye Daughters of Jerusalem 
That ye stir not up nor awaken Love, 
Till Love itself desire, 

And come spontaneously. 













































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